Toddler bootcamp??

          As much as every parent likes to hope and pray that their child will just skip over the "terrible twos", it just doesn't happen. At least in this household it hasn't. Who was once a quiet spoken child, who had everything stolen from him and conked over the head with toys, has turned into a yelling, hitting, toy stealing, jumping, climbing miniature person with many loud and vocal thoughts. And to think that I would get any sympathy from my own mother or better... "advice" but instead all I get is laughter threw the other end of the phone line. "I told you so" she says. My mother use to repeatedly tell me that one day I would have a child just like I was. Really..I was that bad?? Apparently I was. I was the one that use to yell "I HATE MOMMY" at the top of my lungs banging my head against the door, or run away from her as she was trying to discipline me..playing "catch me" around and around the kitchen table. I swear she has her memories confused with one of my other siblings!! She must..me..really?? Well it would appear that my child so far has my genes. Its called STUBBORN. I have seriously considered changing his middle name. And to top it of he not only has one dose of stubborn he has two. I must be able to blame my husband for this as well! The one thing I have going for me in this, is that my child received his stubbornness from me, so he can try to get his way but his momma is stubborn too!!!

You couldn't be talking about me!!

            Our days lately seem to look at lot like this....

"Lucas get down off the tv stand!!! No more climbing up there!!" 2 seconds later once mommy has left the room to make supper, repeat..again and again and again.

"Lets go change your bum!" Runs away and around and around the coffee table and couches. 10 mins later I have managed to wrangle him upstairs to change his diaper. ( I do realize that potty training might help this situation but that is a whole nother blog!!)

"Time to eat!!" Two things can happen here...he either runs away or argues with me for 5 mins over what color bib he wants to wear even though I am letting him choose.

"Bedtime!" Races up and done hallway yelling loudly and jumping up and down..(where is the off switch?)

"Time to go inside the house (after playing outside)" Lays face down on the sidewalk screaming and limp noodling it so you cant pick him up to drag him inside..he just wants to make sure that all the neighbors are staring out their windows!

One of his favorite activities

           The best part is that as many times as we do things we have this hope/dream in our head of how things are going to turn out compared to how they "really" turn out..

1. Painting- dream: I started painting with Lucas especially after seeing some really cool ideas on Pinterest. It would be a ton of fun to make handprints and decorate the handprints to look like bunnies or other such animals. Or have a picture  splotchy paper to file under AGE 2 drawing. Reality: head, lips, legs, arms, table, chair are painted...paper is torn to shreds and the handprint that I tried to get turned into all out brawl because he didn't want me holding his hand to paint the paint on his hand. Two words that save the day...washable paint!

2. Baking- dream: allow my child to help with some baking. Let him stir and add some ingredients and even taste test if he wants. Help me roll balls for cookies and than wait for the cookies to bake and eat them. (I see this in commercials all the time..so it must work!) Reality: walls, floors, chairs are covered in flour including his hair. He yells "mine" at me when I try to get the spoon back so I can finish mixing the dough completely. He than relentlessly asks me for a cookie while they are baking.

These are just two examples. Do you have any more?? 

Regardless of whether my dreams turn into reality what matters is that my child is learning and experiencing even if it is at the cost of mommy's mental sanity.

               As trying and tiring as it is to raise a toddler there is nothing more rewarding somedays! They are like little sponges that soak in our emotions; that copy are reactions. I am constantly on my toes trying to make sure that I am exemplifying behaviour that I want my child to learn from. It is a FULL TIME job. I fail, yes. But I am human and he is a little human just learning to control his emotions. When he is throwing a temper tantrum a lot of times its because he just needs a hug. He needs to know that his mommy loves him regardless and also that it is ok to show emotion. I think we as adults miss that a lot of the time and we hide our "true" selves from some many people. We bottle things up until we breakdown or worse take it out on the people that we love! I was having a conversation with my sister about what we would like our children to learn by the time they go to preschool. So many peoples answers are school related..know colors, letters, numbers, etc. But I would love my child to have learned to share, to be friends with everyone, to respect his elders, to obey, to be gentle and show love. He has his whole school aged years to learn about colors and reading and writing but if I don't install in him the basics of being a "great" person and "loving" person when he is young he may never learn it later on! Most of all it is my job as a parent to pray for my child. To pray for his developing years. To pray that I will raise him how God has intended me too! It takes heart and tears and sweat and anger and laughter to raise a child! Thanks Mom for loving me!

Painting

My beautiful stubborn child!